From Goodreads.com: "House of Rocamora, a
novel of the 17th century, continues the exceptional life of roguish
Vicente de Rocamora, the historical Dominican friar (1601-1684), royal
confessor for Holy Roman Empress María when she was Infanta of Spain,
putative Inquisitor General, and master of disguise.

After
Rocamora arrives in Amsterdam at age forty-two, asserts he is a Jew, and
takes the name Isaac, he must find his place in a land antipodal to
Spain. He revels in a new freedom to become whatever he wants for the
first time in his life.

Rocamora makes new friends, both
Christian and Jew, including scholars, men of power and, typically, the
disreputable. He also acquires enemies in the Sephardic community who
believe he is a spy for the Inquisition or resent him for having been a
Dominican.

As Isaac Israel de Rocamora, he learns the Dutch
language, studies Medicine at Leyden and at age forty-six receives a
license to practice. That same year Rocamora weds twenty-five year old
Abigail Touro, his greatest love, who will give him nine children over
the next eleven years.

Rocamora has a bizarre encounter with
Rembrandt, serves the House of Orange as physician, and advises Spinoza
before the philosopher’s excommunication. He survives a murder attempt,
learns from the great English physician Harvey, and a surprise visit
from a childhood friend leads to an unusual business venture.

A
renowned physician, Rocamora must ensure his wife, children, and
patients survive several plagues that kill tens of thousands in
Amsterdam and more throughout the Dutch Republic.

Life is never
routine or dull for Rocamora from the day he arrives in Amsterdam until
his last breath, with triumphs and sorrows, and the ultimate
satisfaction of having begun a multi-generational dynasty of physicians."

My Two Cents:

"House
of Rocamora" is the sequel to "Rocamora," a book that I reviewed last
week. The book continues to follow renaissance man (seriously, this guy
really does everything: friar, doctor, poet, lover, so on and so forth),
Vicente de Rocamora, as he travels to Amsterdam to make a new life for
himself. If you've read "Rocamora," you can most definitely understand
why Vicente goes to Amsterdam, becomes a Jew, and renames himself Issac.
Times have definitely changed for this former Dominican friar and
confessor to the Spanish royals.

As I mentioned previously, this
book is a sequel. You should definitely read "Rocamora" before reading
this book as Vicente's back story is very important in the sequel. I
really wish that this book had been a part of "Rocamora." Yes, it would
have made "Rocamora" quite long but there isn't really any story arc in
"House of Rocamora;" it basically just follows what life is like for
Vicente/ Issac. It covers him becoming a doctor and what his new family
life was like whereas with "Rocamora," there was much more action
surrounding the Spanish Inquisition and the search for "limpieza de
sangre" or "clean blood."

The historical detail in this book
continued to be quite good as it was in the first book. It is clear that
Platt did a lot of research into Rocamora's life (yes, he really
existed). Sometimes the writing almost feels like a list of facts (some
parts are very much Issac did this on this day and that on that day) but
overall the story is interesting.

2 comments:

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